


Great in Action

by false_alexis



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bad Flirting, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, F/F, Gen, Pre-Femslash, actually there is character introspection ho-hum that's about it, awkward Skye, nothing happens here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/false_alexis/pseuds/false_alexis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye waited until they'd gotten Ace back to his family. She was that patient, she was good, she waited until then to talk to Agent May.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Great in Action

**Author's Note:**

> Kelsey was the first to respond when I asked for prompts. I know this isn't the full-fledged version of what you asked for... but every love story has to start somewhere. ;)
> 
> Feedback and concrit is welcome, and I'm always ready to hear your concerns.

Skye wasn't naturally patient. She was a pretty smart woman- girl- whatever, so she was aware of her own tendency towards impatience and how much it... displeased... other people sometimes. Which wasn't entirely fair, because she could wait for the long game to play out, she could wait for what will come. It was just that she wasn't good at waiting on people, that's ll.

So if she had a tendency to speak whatever was on her mind, whenever it came to her, she wasn't doing it on purpose. She tried to be a grown-up- an adult, whatever. She tried to do the mature thing, even if she had no natural patience and had a tendency to offend with her every move. Waiting, allowing the right moment to come, was a skill she was still developing.

All of which was to say that she was very proud of herself for managing to wait this time. She did not blurt out 'Holy shit, you're a total badass' the moment it occurred to her. Progress!

She waited through getting Michael calmed down, which was good. She waited until after Agent Coulson had invited her along to drop Ace off with his family. (And why, exactly, it was Agent Black Suit and not a representative of CPS or at least the local police was something else she didn't ask after. It was, after all, just another sign of how total SHIELD's control actually was. She could play dumb for a while, pretend not to see these things.)

She waited while Agent May busily strode up to Agent Coulson after he parked the flying car (the _flying car_ \- she was _so_ not over that yet).

Busy just seemed to be a natural state for Agent May. It went along with oh-so-composed attitude, the impassive lack-of-expression, and the too-sexy-for-you walk, and, oh yeah, the martial-arts-heroine badass moves. That woman was preoccupied with the important shit, not whatever or whoever was bugging her right now.Except, of course, when she was snarling something rather unpleasant just out of earshot. Skye tried not to- okay, that's not the case, she totally tried to listen in on their conversation. But hey, they were spies, right? They were the ones who were usually doing the listening, and if they didn't want to be heard, they should really know better.

Except maybe they did know better because somehow Skye didn't manage to catch a single word they said. May was upset; Coulson was calm to the point of being obnoxious. (She liked that. Not the calm, but the way he turned it into an annoying thing. Gotta respect people who play each other on that level.) May brushed past on her way back to the cockpit. She didn't look at Skye at all.

Coulson was busy fucking off to- hell, who knew, this place was a rat's nest. Or a warren. Something with small animals, anyways, but he was off to 'See what Fitz-Simmons had for him' and Skye wasn't going to miss this chance to explore unaccompanied. The 'Oh-Eight-Four' would still be there in few minutes. (Probably.)

But first, there was something she'd been very, very good about waiting to say.

Skye had to run to catch up to May, to get to talk to her at all. Her hair blew out behind her as she moved, the airflow of the ventilation system catching it, but it just made her feel like a child, running to catch up with an older sibling, or a teenager chasing down a crush.

She was a little out of breath, which was embarrassing, because here was the fittest woman she'd ever met looking entirely too at-ease for someone who had recently beaten the shit out of a bunch of transit cops, including one who might or might not have been a shady assassin. And here was Skye, feeling like a dork, probably looking like a hot mess, still wondering what the hell had happened there.

"Wait, Agent- Melinda- Agent May-" May slowed her pace just a bit. "Hey, I just wanted to say, and I didn't get a chance earlier but that was- that was kind of amazing," Skye said.

May gave her a sideways glance.

"So, um, I wanted to say thanks for that- well, for those- thanks for saving my life and thanks for uh, stopping that not-a-cop because whoa, buddy, was he ever bad news." Skye had to walk faster to keep up, which was ridiculous, because May was _even shorter than she was_.

"You're pretty terrific, anyways," she added, because Skye might be more aware of her own flaws than it first appeared but that didn't mean she could do anything about them, not even shutting the fuck up. "That was- I just... how did you even-"

May stopped, and Skye managed to stop with her. May looked her up and down, assessing her. "Can I help you, Skye?"

 _Duh_ , Skye wanted to respond, except she couldn't. She had just wanted to say... she didn't know how to say what she wanted to say, except 'how are you real, you impossibly perfect perfectly normal person'. That wasn't going to work, and she'd already said 'terrific' in an actual conversation, so she had gotten the idea across and acted like an idiot already. "No, I, uh, that's good. We're it. I mean- that's it, we're good, I, I've got to-" There was no real reason for Skye to get nervous now. She'd already done the black bag routine, and here she was, still standing here, on purpose and everything. 

"Good. I'm sure we'll all be fine working together, welcome to the team," said May, and if it was dismissive at least it wasn't downright mean. "Are you ready to do your thing?"

"I guess. I mean, I'm not exactly like-" she waved a hand to indicate the environment, the mobile office, all of it. "Not like all of you. Super secret woo-woo agents, whatever. That's kind of crazy, I mean, I knew you all had to exist, but I never really imagined... people. It's different."

"You said yes," said May. "You said yes to Coulson, right?"

"Yeah," said Skye, cautious.

"Even though you knew it was a bad idea?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." Reasons notwithstanding.

"Congratulations, that' something we all have in common now. Are we done here?"

Skye shrugged, self-consciously. "Sure, we can be." She watched May turn away again, but called out before the other woman could get far. "I want to help," she said. "I want to help you, and help them. The world- this is an amazing time to be alive. I want to make the most of it." _I want to know more about you, about how you manage to do the things you can do._ Because if she'd ever met a woman that impressive before, she wasn't sure when or where- everyone else had to try, but May made it look so effortless. It made Skye want to be more something, maybe even just more herself- more incredibly aware computer genius, perhaps, or more of an aggressive activist for the world's good.

May smiled at her. "Good attitude. I'll see you around, Skye."

And if Skye stared at her while she left, well, there was no one around to call her on it, was there?

* * *

_"It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is often simple patience." - Horace Bushnell_


End file.
